Neonates (e.g., human babies) are typically kept within an incubator when receiving medical treatment in a hospital. The incubator can provide constant environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, noise level, vibration level, light level, and/or bacteria/germ) appropriate for life support of a baby and to support recovery of the baby. Baby incubators typically also allow for connection of various life support equipment and/or monitors to the baby and the incubator to, for example, provide feeding, monitor feeding, perform fluid exchange and/or monitor/control cardiac activity.
During medical treatment of a baby, procedures and/or imaging of the baby can require moving the baby out of the incubator about the hospital. Transporting the baby can require moving the baby from its controlled environment within the incubator, and in some instances, can require detaching/reattaching life support equipment attached to the baby (e.g., mechanical ventilation, oxygen, intravenous medications/hydration, etc.).
Transporting the baby can also require that the baby be picked up and repositioned into a transport device (e.g., a large transport incubator), which can disturb physical position and/or environment of the baby. For example, for a baby that has had surgery, it can be important to move the baby as minimally as possibly, to reduce risk of opening stitches and/or allowing infection to enter wound sites.
Transporting the baby can also require that every surface the baby touches and piece of connected/disconnected equipment be sterilized to, for example, prevent unwanted germs (e.g., staph infections) from infecting the baby.
Transporting the baby is typically done in a large incubator. This can be heavy and, in some instances, require multiple medical personnel to transport the baby.
When a baby on life support is transported, it can require such a disruption to the baby, that many times, the detriment of the disruption to the baby can outweigh the benefits that can be obtained from the reason for the transport (e.g., medical imaging of the baby's anatomy).
Therefore, it can be desirable to transport a baby for medical procedures without having to remove the baby from its controlled environment and/or detach/reattach life support equipment.
Some types of medical procedures (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging) can require magnetic and/or radio frequency (RF) shielding of life support equipment, elimination of magnetic materials in the vicinity of the baby being imagined, and/or addition of elements (e.g., an RF coil) into the environment of the baby, thus creating further disturbance to the environment of the baby.
Performing imaging of a baby can be an important diagnostic tool for a doctor. Imaging devices can be used to obtain images of a human's anatomy. For example, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices can be used to create three-dimensional sections and/or layered images of body organs and/or tissue.
Other types of imaging devices that can require transporting a baby include x-ray radiography, ultrasound, elastography, tactile imaging, thermography, positron emission tomography (PET) and/or single-photon emission computer tomography (SPECT).
For some imaging devices, life support equipment may need to be magnetic and/or RF shielded. For example, MRI devices typically use a powerful magnet to create a magnetic field. The magnetic field can cause the nuclei atoms within a body to align with the magnetic field. Radio waves are typically applied to the body to cause the nuclei to change their alignment. When the radio waves are removed, the nuclei can relax back into their previous state. As the nuclei return to their previous state, they can emit distinct radio signals. The rate at which the nuclei emit signals and the frequency of the signals can depend on a type of the atom.
MRI devices can use a first radio frequency (RF) coil to generate the radio waves, which can be sometimes referred to as a gradient field, and a second RF coil to receive the radio waves, or can use the same RF coil to both transmit and/or receive.
MRI devices for medical diagnoses typically include a bore that a patient lying on a bed gets inserted into for imaging. The MRI devices are typically deployed in an MRI safe room in a hospital. The MRI safe room typically requires that all magnetic materials be left outside of the MRI room, so that they don't get pulled towards the MRI device by the force of the magnetic field to, for example, cause accidents. The MRI safe room also typically includes a RF shield in its walls. The RF shield can ensure that RF interference from outside of the MRI room does not compromise the MRI images, and can also ensure that RF energy generated by the MRI does not exit the room.
MRI imaging a patient connected to life support typically requires the patient be completely disconnected from all life support equipment, and reconnected to the life support equipment via very long tubing that is threaded through a hole in the MRI room, such that, for example, the life support equipment is outside of the MRI room and away from interference that can be caused by RF waves and/or magnetic energy. Additionally, MRI rooms are typically kept at a cold temperature, so that the magnets of the MRI don't overheat.
Obtaining MRI images of babies can require that the baby be moved out of its incubator into an uncontrolled environment (e.g., a cold/loud MRI room), all of the life support equipment be disconnected and reconnected (e.g., to move the baby into a transport incubator and/or to change/thread tubes of the life support equipment through a hole in the MRI room), placement of the baby on the same MRI bed that a non-baby patient is placed on and/or extensive and/or repeated sterilization of the MRI bed and/or life support equipment.